Online petitions ain't worth much to me - just once, I'd like to see someone with a clipboard outside a GameStop doing this in person. But on some topics they're meaningful, like the Infinity Ward/dedicated server fiasco that broke yesterday.

In a webcast this morning, Robert Bowling revealed the existence of IWNet, a matchmaking service…
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Especially when the petition registers 20,000 in just a little more than a day since the news hit. The petition's short and sweet: "Get Infinity Ward to review their decision not to allow fully dedicated servers for their forthcoming game release CoD:MW2. Remember that this Call of Duty was made popular by PC Gamers who have supported the series throughout."

And that's it. No list of high crimes and misdemeanors, just "think about what you're doing here."

The signatures can't be taken to mean anything deeper than "I agree," of course, for whatever reasons. For a deeper insight into why this matters to the PC Call of Duty community I do recommend you visit a site like BASHandSlash, whose webcast yesterday broke the news. It's not just about concepts like lag-free playing and modding; it's really upending how a significant and very vocal user base has enjoyed this series for a long time.

And whether it's a petition or something else that forces a reaction, I can't imagine Infinity Ward won't have more to say about this.
Dedicated Servers for CoD:MW2 Petition [PetitionOnline.com, thanks Rob S.]